


In Sickness and in Health

by Potrix



Series: Tales of Deceit and Grief [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, M/M, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Sickfic, Soup, Timestamp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 20:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2481890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potrix/pseuds/Potrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"In which everyone is sick, Ana fusses, Loki sleeps a lot and Tony makes soup."</p><p>A prompt fic, full summary inside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Sickness and in Health

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Baelorfan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baelorfan/gifts).



> This fic is a prompt fill for the lovely [cumbercookieme](http://cumbercookieme.tumblr.com/). I tried staying close to what you wanted and hope it turned out how you imagined.
> 
>  
> 
> _"Tony taking care of a sick Loki and Ana (they have the flu or whatever) while struggling with dizziness himself."_
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks to you (and everyone else reading [ToDaG](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1470139)) for sending in prompts and ideas, they were amazing and cool and funny and fluffy and so much more. This is the first of three (I know, I said two, but I lied because that's me), the others to be following soon. 
> 
> Enjoy!

**In Sickness and in Health**

* * *

It all starts with Tony oversleeping.

Thankfully not in a capacity that has him stumbling out of bed in a hurry and burning his mouth on a scalding cup of coffee while trying to placate an impatiently furious Pepper about the meeting he’s already half an hour late to, but he’s still dozing peacefully when the second alarm goes off.

And that hasn’t happened since Loki abandoned the guest room and made himself at home in Tony’s quarters. Early risers are a pest.

Today, however, the deity in question doesn’t so much as stir when Tony rolls over and half on top of him, pressing a soft kiss to the back of Loki’s neck and ruffling a hand through his messy mop of hair.

Reluctant to leave the warmth of their blanket nest, Tony curls around Loki’s sprawled out form and indulges himself for a moment, nose buried in the crook of Loki’s neck, until JARVIS reminds him that Wednesdays are daycare days, making Tony groan and flop over onto his back with a curse.

That prompts an inquiring noise out of Loki, making Tony smile fondly as he gets up and pads around the bed.

“Morning, gorgeous,” he greets, crouching next to Loki and brushing a gentle hand over his back. “You sleeping in today?”

Loki mumbles something that probably translates to ‘yes’ and burrows further into his pillow. Tony gives his shoulder a squeeze and tucks the blankets snug around him before shuffling into the ensuite for a quick shower.

When he emerges not ten minutes later, dressed for a morning of schmoozing Stark Industries board members, Loki is completely dead to the world once more.

Ana fusses and whines through the entire dressing and teeth-brushing routine, which is nothing out of the ordinary, and blearily glares at the TV when Tony plops her down on the couch with a bowl of Cocoa Puffs so that he can go and collect the meeting files he should have read at some point before now, skimming through what looks most important while shovelling cereal into his mouth.

Miraculously, neither of them spills anything on themselves, Tony makes sure to check twice, a tiny bit disbelieving, and they make it to the human resources floor at eight sharp. Ana bounds off without a glance back, leaving Tony to roll his eyes and hand over her backpack, earning himself a ‘kids, what can you do?’ sort of smile from one of the other parents, before heading to the conference rooms.

***

They’re barely an hour into discussing some unexpected stock activity or a fundraiser or something Tony hasn’t been paying much attention to when his phone begins to vibrate across the table, attracting disapproving stares from half the assembled people and long-practiced acceptance from the rest.

“Family emergency,” Tony shrugs, trying to not appear too eager at the prospect of skipping the rest of the session, and ignores Pepper’s pursed lips as he slips out into the hall to take the call without even checking the name. “Hello?”

 _“Mr Stark,”_ comes the voice of Mrs Patnaik, one of the teachers, and Tony’s stomach drops, his good mood evaporating as he realises that his little white lie wasn’t a lie at all, _“we need you to pick up Ana.”_

“What happened?” Tony demands, instantly concerned and maybe a bit harsher than strictly necessary, but if Mrs Patnaik makes note of it, she doesn’t mention it.

_“It’s nothing serious, Mr Stark, please don’t worry. Your daughter is running a low fever and SI policy requires us to send her home as a precautionary measure.”_

“Yeah, sure. Of course,” Tony says absently, repeatedly hitting the button for the right floor as he asks, “Did you try upstairs?”

 _“I did, yes, but my call was redirected to your personal phone, it seems,”_ Mrs Patnaik informs him, sounding apologetic.

Which is strange, but Tony pushes that thought aside for the moment in favour of concentrating on Ana. “I’ll be right there,” he promises and hangs up, practically running out of the elevator the instant the doors open, finding Ana slouched in one of those tiny red plastic chairs in the reception area and looking absolutely miserable.

“Oh, baby,” Tony breathes as he rushes over and picks her up, her lolling head coming to rest on his shoulder, the heat of her noticeable even through several layers of clothing. “C’mon, let’s go, honey.”

He collects her things and a bright green information slip about how long to keep her home from Mrs Patnaik, giving her a brief nod of thanks.

The penthouse is quiet when they arrive upstairs and Tony frowns, making his way to the bedroom. The curtains are drawn and the lights out, Loki a shadowy lump under the covers.

Ana gives a hoarse cry of protest when Tony tries to put her down so he adjusts his grip, freeing one hand to gently nudge what he assumes is Loki’s arm. “Darling? Hey, what’s going on?”

It’s JARVIS who answers. _“Sir is not feeling well. His temperature is elevated and he mentioned experiencing pain in the limbs, a sore throat and occasional shakes.”_

With a sigh, Tony perches on the edge of the bed, shifting Ana into his lap. His own simmering headache he woke up with was apparently the harbinger of a round of colds and too easily dismissed, he thinks with a wince.

“Anthony,” Loki croaks then, peeking up at Tony and Tony cups his cheek, running a thumb over his fevered skin. “I believe myself ill.”

That startles a laugh out of Tony. “Yeah, I guessed as much.”

***

Tony is exhausted.

There is a dull throbbing in the back of his head that stubbornly refuses to yield to the Ibuprofen he took and which, combined with the cough syrup he’s gulping down by the bottle and what he suspects will soon develop into full-blown otitis media, only made him disoriented and dizzy.

He listlessly swirls his spoon through the bowl of Alphabet soup in front of him, pulling a face when he brings it to his mouth only to realise it has gone cold.

It’s a shame really, Tony thinks groggily, sticking his lower lip out in a pout no one can see. He successfully made soup that was edible and all Ana managed were a couple of spoons while Loki couldn’t keep his own portion down at all.

Tony wrinkles his nose at the memory, slumping over the bar and resting his forehead against the cool marble with a happy hum.

_“Sir, I suggest moving to a more comfortable location.”_

His whole body is aching, his hands trembling and his eyes alternately dry and itchy or leaking, making the short journey from the kitchenette to the bedroom seem endless.

There’s the faint sound of the ballad playlist Tony made for Ana drifting out of her room, accompanied by the snores of the severely congested. He’s got a crick in his neck from being crammed into her tiny bed for what felt like an eternity, waiting for her to drift off and then cry for him to stay whenever he thought she’d fallen asleep and tried to extract himself.

At least Loki had the good grace to pass right back out after emptying his stomach over the side of the bed, only twitching awake every so often to take a slow, painful sip of water.

_“Sir-“_

“Lights, JARVIS,” Tony interrupts, his words slurred with fatigue and possibly the side effects of the painkillers, pillowing his head on his folded arms.

There is a brief pause, then a crisp, _“Very well, sir.”_ and the lights dim.

Tony is already fast asleep before JARVIS finishes speaking.

***

“Anthony.”

Tony snorts rather inelegantly, jerking upright. Loki’s hands are braced against the back of his bar stool, a faint smile playing about his lips.

“Come to bed.”

Stretching, Tony shakes his head, making himself gasp. Right. Sleeping at the bar; bad idea. “Can’t,” he rasps, tilting his head back against Loki’s chest, “have to take care of you.”

“You are, love,” Loki promises, arching one expectant brow down at him, and yeah. Yeah, bed sounds awesome.

“Okay,” Tony coughs, not even complaining when Loki helps him stand and leads him down the hall to their room, pulling him under the blankets. He reaches out blindly until Loki shuffles around, wrapping his arms around Tony and tangling their legs together.

“Loki. Darling,” Tony mumbles after a moment of silence, “I made soup. By myself.”

“Genius,” Loki murmurs back and kisses the top of Tony’s head.

Damn right, Tony smiles smugly to himself, and snuggles closer into Loki’s side.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my other [work](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Potrix/works) or come over and join me in my [tumblr](http://potrix-the-queerschlaeger.tumblr.com/) shenanigans.


End file.
